548.4 
WS3i 


• 


n  (Wletnorianu 


JOHN  S.WRIGHT, 

AN    ADDRESS 

DELIVERED   BEFORE  THE   CHICAGO   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY, 
FRIDAY   EVENING,  JULY  21,  1885. 


BY. 


AUGUSTINE  W.  WRIGHT. 


CHICAGO: 

FERGUS    PRINTING    COMPANY. 
1885. 


£+ 


CHICAGO  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 


CHICAGO,  July  23,  1885. 
AUGUSTINE  W.  WRIGHT,  Esq., 

Dear  Sir: — I  have  the  honor,  in  behalf  of  the  Chi- 
cago Historical  Society,  to  tender  to  yourself  and 
brother  its  thanks  for  the  beautiful  oil  portrait  of  your 
father,  the  late  John  S.  Wright,  which  you  generously 
presented  at  the  quarterly  meeting  on  the  2ist  inst. 

I  also  beg  to  inform  you  that,  on  the  motion  of 
Hon.  William  Bross,  the  thanks  of  the  Society  were 
unanimously  tendered  to  you,  and  a  request  made  that 
you  furnish  a  copy  of  the  biographical  memoir  of  your 
father  which  you  read  on  that  occasion,  that  the  same 
may  be  published.  Very  respectfully, 

ALBERT  D.  HAGER, 

Secretary. 


449056 


n  (Wlemomm. 


JOHN    S.    WRIGHT. 


GKNTLEMEN    OF    THE    CHICAGO     HISTORICAL    SOCIETY   AND 

LADIES   AND   GENTLEMEN: 

I  HAVE  the  honor  of  addressing  you  this  evening 
upon  the  life  of  my  father,  the  late  John  S. 
Wright,  although  I  realize  fully  the  truth  of  Barham's 
statement,  that  "It  may,  perhaps,  be  questioned 
whether  under  any  circumstances  a  very  near  rela- 
tive is  a  fit  person  to  fill  the  office  of  biographer; 
independently  of  the  prepossession  by  which  he  must 
almost  necessarily  be  swayed,  and  of  the  restraint 
which  a  consciousness  of  its  existence  induces,  expres- 
sions both  of  eulogy  and  the  reverse  seem  to  fall 
ungracefully  from  his  pen.  The  writer  has  no  immu- 
nity to  plead  in  the  present  instance  from  the  effects 
of  this  law." 

In  1832,  the  population  of  Chicago  was  estimated 
at  150.  Today  it  is  estimated  at  700,000!  What 
has  caused  this  wondrous  growth,  a  growth  unequalled 
in  rapidity  by  any  city  of  the  known  world?  Some 
will  answer,  it  is  due  to  nature,  to  the  wonderful 


natural  advantages  surrounding  the  site  upon  which 
this  proud  city  was  to  be  erected.  I,  however,  affirm 
that  it  is  to  be  attributed  not  less  to  the  remarkable 
character  of  those  who,  in  the  early  days,  ventured 
from  their  homes  into  this  almost  unknown  region  and 
by  their  wonderful  energy  and  unequalled  ability  gave 
an  impetus  to  the  growth  of  the  would-be  city,  that 
has  gathered  force  as  it  rolled,  and  has  resulted  in  the 
Chicago  of  today! 

"The  means  that  heaven  yields  must  be  embraced,  and 
not  neglected;  else  if  heaven  would  and  we  will  not,  heaven's 
offer  we  refuse." 

No  city  was  ever  the  happy  possessor  of  greater 
capacity  in  its  founders!  John  S.  Wright  wrote,  "A 
set  of  men  superior  to  the  early  settlers  of  Chicago 
were  never  brought  together."  Only  the  most  enter- 
prising and  energetic  ventured  upon  the  long  and  try- 
ing journey  to  the  then  "  Far- West  ",  and  those  early 
settlers  have  left  their  impress  upon  every  profession 
every  occupation  in  the  life  of  this  great  metropolis! 
Their  fame  is  not  bounded  by  the  confines  of  this  vast 
continent,  but  has  extended  to  every  civilized  country 
upon  the  globe!  Among  those  who  thus  cast  their  all 
with  Chicago  was  the  subject  of  this  brief  address, 
and  to  no  other  individual  is  this  city  more  indebted. 

In  the  quaint  old  graveyard  at  Colchester,  Conn., 
can  be  seen  tombs  of  generations  of  the  Wrights. 
Capt.  Joseph  Wright  moved  from  Wethersfield  to 
Colchester,  where  he  purchased  a  large  farm.  He 
died  Sept.  10,  1766,  aged  87.  His  wife  was  Mary 
Dudley  from  Guilford.  Timothy  was  their  second 


son.  He  died  in  1756,  aged  44.  His  wife  was 
Mehetible  Brainard  of  E.  Haddam.  Their  sixth 
child  was  John,  born  May  27,  1745.  He  died  June  6, 
1826.  His  wife  was  Lucy  Sears  of  E.  Haddam. 
Their  fourth  child  was  John,  born  Nov.  25,  1783. 
He  died  in  Chicago,  111.,  Sept.  20,  1840.  He  was 
born  and  raised  on  a  large  farm  near  Colchester, 
Conn.,  and  having  a  store  in  Sheffield,  Mass.,  he 
there,  in  1814,  married  Huldah,  a  daughter,  eldest  but 
one,  of  Stephen  Dewey.  At  the  latter's  house  in 
Sheffield  their  eldest  child,  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
was  born  July  :6th,  1815.  He  was  named  John 
Stephen  after  both  grandfathers. 

In  1815-16,  John  Wright  traveled  for  his  health  on 
horseback  from  Massachusetts  into  Illinois,  and  thence 
to  New  Orleans,  whereby  he  acquired  a  knowledge  of 
the  country,  and  became  much  impressed  with  its 
promise  for  the  future.  He  moved  from  Sheffield  to 
Williamstown  in  1822,  where  the  mountain  scenery 
is  grandest  of  Berkshire,  to  have  the  benefits  of  the 
college  in  educating  his  children,  having  three  sons  at 
that  time,  John  S.,  Timothy,  and  Walter.  He  con- 
tinued a  merchant.  A  brother  of  his  wife,  very  dear 
to  her,  Prof.  Chester  Dewey,  was  in  the  college,  and 
Mr.  Wright  at  once  took  one  of  the  best  students, 
Mr.  Willey  from  New  Hampshire,  into  his  family, 
giving  him  board  for  his  teaching  the  children.  The 
mother  had  been  the  teacher  exclusively.  She  was  a 
highly-cultivated  lady  in  every  respect,  and  taught  her 
son,  John  S.,  before  he  was  seven  years  of  age,  all  the 
arithmetic,  English  grammar,  and  geography  that  he 


8 

ever  studied.  Mr.  Willey  put  him  at  Latin,  which 
was  his  chief  study  for  four  years.  Both  parents  were 
very  superior  in  mental  powers,  perfectly  united  in 
family  affairs,  most  devoted  to  their  children!  At  ten, 
he  was  put  with  his  brother,  Timothy,  with  Mr.  Brad- 
ley, going  to  his  room  in  college  to  study  and  recite, 
and  began  Greek.  After  two  or  three  years,  an 
academy  was  started  under  a  Mr.  Canning,  and  to 
Latin  and  Greek,  Algebra  and  Euclid  were  added. 
His  excellent  uncle,  Prof.  Chester  Dewey,  had  such  a 
fame  for  interesting  scholars  in  study  and  arousing 
their  ambition,  that  Mr.  Pomeroy  of  Pittsfield,  father 
of  his  then  wife,  built  for  him  the  Berkshire  Gymna- 
sium, and  induced  him  to  take  charge  of  it  as  a  higher 
field  of  usefulness.  To  him  John  S.  was  sent  in 
1829-30,  and  was  then  taken  into  his  father's  store  as 
a  clerk  for  six  months,  with  an  interest  in  part  of  the 
business,  giving  a  trial  of  his  book-keeping,  which  had 
been  well  mastered.  The  profits  paid  for  another 
year's  schooling  at  his  excellent  uncle's,  who  loved 
him  as  his  own  children,  and  never  chided  for  any- 
thing, except  that  love  of  chess  prevented  adequate 
out-door  exercise.  Ambition  was  aroused  equal  to 
his  uncle's  pride  and  confidence,  and  the  two  and  one- 
half  years'  discipline  of  head  and  heart  was  worth 
double  all  other  education,  except  that  of  his  adored 
parents !  Yet  the  great  and  good  Dr.  Griffin,  Pro- 
fessors Kellogg,  Albert  and  Mark  Hopkins,  who  suc- 
ceeded Dr.  G.  in  the  presidency  of  the  college,  had 
ever  a  pleasant  word  of  encouragement,  bespeaking 
strong  interest  that  helped  abundantly  his  ambition  to 


make  himself  a  man.  I  have  heard  that  Prof.  Hopkins 
said,  his  was  one  of  the  brightest  minds  that  ever 
came  under  his  instruction. 

The  first  Sunday  in  June,  1832,  he  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Congregational  Church.  The  wish  so  dear 
to  many  a  New-England  mother  was  not  absent  from 
his  own,  and  she  had  always  trained  him  to  love  the 
ministry  and  study  for  that  profession  ;  but  he  pre- 
ferred an  active  business  life  as  giving  far  greater 
opportunities  for  rising,  and  he  expected  to  enter  a 
store  at  New  York;  but  his  uncle,  Prof.  Dewey,  said 
to  him:  "Cousin  John,  you  will  do  no  such  thing; 
your  father  intends  to  take  you  to  the  'Far-West'  and 
let  you  make  a  man  of  yourself;  and  that 's  my  own 
advice  as  the  best  way  to  bring  you  out."  The  lad's 
satisfaction  was  intense,  and  in  a  few  weeks  he  went 
home,  expecting  to  go  with  his  father  to  New  York  to 
get  a  stock  of  merchandise.  The  cholera  then  first 
appearing,  the  father  thought  it  best  not  to  take  his 
son  ;  but  the  next  day  brought  a  letter  from  his 
brother,  Amasa,  living  in  Brooklyn,  saying  the 
cholera  had  subsided.  The  son  started  for  the  great 
city,  and  found  his  way  to  his  uncle's,  to  their  great 
surprise.  But  he  told  them  he  had  no  idea  of  going 
way  off  West,  without  seeing  New  York  ;  that  he 
hoped  to  help  build  a  great  city  out  there.  Goods, 
some  $5000  or  $6000  worth,  were  bought  and  shipped 
to  Buffalo,  where  from  thence  they  had  no  idea.  The 
Black- Hawk  War  had  that  year  called  attention  to 
Chicago,  where  was  Fort  Dearborn;  and  a  schooner 
being  found  at  Buffalo  thither  bound,  the  goods- to 


10 

arrive  were  contracted  for  transportation.  The  plan 
was  to  get  them  to  Galena,  then  prominent  for  its 
lead-mines.  The  trip  from  Williamstown,  then  con- 
suming nearly  three  weeks,  would  be  interesting  to 
contrast  with  the  present. 

The  father  and  son  arrived  at  Chicago,  October  29, 

1832.  In  a  few  days  the  father  purchased  a  horse  to 
explore  the  land,  going   to   Fox   River  and   down  it 
some  thirty  miles,  and  striking  back  for  Chicago.      He 
stopped  a  night  at  a  place  afterward  called   Plainfield, 
with  a  Mr.  Searcy,   who  had  a  lot  Sox  150  feet,  on 
north  side  of  Lake  Street,  a  little  east  of  Clark,   in 
Chicago.      This    Mr.  Wright    bought   for  $100.       In 

1833,  he  built  a  hewed-log  store  on  this  lot.      It  was 
called  the  "Prairie  Store,"  being  so  far  back  from  the 
line  of  business.      Before  the  fire,  it  paid  among  the 
best  rents  in  Chicago.     The  goods  in  part  only  arriv- 
ing, some  not  reaching  Buffalo  when  the  vessel  had  to 
sail,  John  S.  rented  a  store-room  in  a  log-building  of 
Mark   Beaubien,  with  whom  he  boarded.       Beaubien 
had  met  them  on  the  South  Branch,  where  they  stood 
with  the  wagon,  waiting  to  go  over  to  another  hotel. 
He  was  a  large,  fine-looking   Frenchman,  and  came 
up,  touching  his  hat  and  bowing,  said,  "You  going  to 
stop  here?"     Mr.  Wright  said,  "Yes,  we  had  heard 
the  hotel  was  on   the  other  side."      Said    Beaubien, 
with   usual   emphasis,   raising    and    lowering    his   arm 
with  a  vengeance,  "This  my  house.      Me  keep  tavern 

like- 

('  What  I  decline  to  repeat; 
It  was  th  name  af  a  bad  place,  for  mention  unmeet';) 

play  de  fiddle  like  damnation ;  you  no  stop  with  me  ?  " 


1 1 

Mr.  Wright  was  so  amused  that  with  a  hearty  laugh 
he  accepted  the  cordial  invitation. 

John  S.  had  unpacked,  marked,  and  was  selling  the 
goods  at  100  to  150  per  cent  advance,  having  learned 
of  Dole,  Hogan,  and  Bob  Kinzie,  friends  already,  what 
they  charged.  So  when  his  father  returned,  he  never 
said  a  word  about  Galena,  but  told  his  son  with  much 
glee  of  his  lot  purchase  ;  but  the  son  "went  him 
better"  by  telling  him  that  Philo  Carpenter  had  pro- 
posed, just  after  he  started  to  see  the  country,  that 
they  should  hold  the  chain  for  each  other,  and  get 
Mr.  Herrington  to  survey  for  each  a  quarter-section, 
to  get  at  $1.25  per  acre  by  pre-emption.  The  father 
had  a  severe  contest  with  Hiram  Pearson  to  get  his 
quarter- section,  but  succeeded,  although  under  the 
adverse  claim  it  was  sold  at  $1000  per  acre  in  1836. 
It  is  now  Wright's  Addition  to  Chicago,  and  includes 
Union  Park,  and  is  worth  millions.  The  son  became 
very  expert  with  the  rifle,  and  shot  prairie-chickens 
and  snow-birds  from  the  store-door,  at  the  southeast 
corner  of  Lake  and  Market  Streets.  The  father 
returned  to  Massachusetts  in  the  fall,  but  came  sud- 
denly upon  the  son  in  the  spring,  and  opened  his  eyes 
with  astonishment  when  he  saw  the  store  converted 
into  a  gunnery,  and  the  goods  all  sold.  He  said 
naught  to  the  son,  but  inquired  of  Mr.  Dole  about 
him,  who  said,  "Never  you  fear  for  John.  The  boys 
{ Hogan,  Kercheval,  Bob  Kinzie,  and  Brady)  have 
tried  their  best  to  get  him  into  our  frolics,  but  he  was 
no  go."  He  had  spent  the  time  studying  the  Greek 
classics,  etc.  He  assisted  in  raising  the  third  frame- 


12 

building   in   Chicago  in  February  or   March,    1833— 
P.  F.  W.  Peck's  store. 

In  1834,  Mr.  John  Wright  removed  his  family  to 
Chicago.  In  1833,  the  Rev.  Jeremiah  Porter  organ- 
ized the  first  Presbyterian  church  of  all  the  North- 
west, except  at  Galena.  Mr.  Wright  was  one  of  the 
elders,  and  his  son  John  S.  an  original  member. 

John  Wright  lived  until  Sept.  20,  1840,  and  day  by 
day  had  his  original  convictions  strengthened  that  this 
was  to  be  the  site  of  a  populous  city.  His  wife  died 
in  Chicago,  April  15,  1853,  leaving  an  enviable  record 
of  good  works.  She  was  one  of  seven  sisters,  and 
the  words  of  another  may  be  applied  to  her: 

"Distinguished  no  less  for  grace  and  loveliness  of  person 
than  for  rare  endowments  of  mind  and  heart,  she  grew  up  in 
her  New-England  home  in  an  atmosphere  of  the  purest  Chris- 
tian love  and  refinement;  and  giving  up  home  and  kindred, 
she  went  forth  trustfully  to  share  with  her  husband  in  all 
sweetness  of  patience  and  tenderness  of  devotion  the  hard- 
ships and  trials  of  life  in  the  log-dwelling  at  Chicago." 

The  family  home  was  for  many  years  at  the  south- 
west corner  of  Michigan  Avenue  and  Madison  Street. 
She  entered  actively  into  every  good  work,  and  her 
charity  never  failed.  From  her  John  S.  Wright  in- 
herited most  noble  traits. 

The  lad,  John  S.,  became  at  once  imbued  with  a 
deep  faith  in  the  future  of  Chicago,  and  began  to 
operate  in  real  estate  on  his  own  account  in  1834. 
He  was  not  of  age,  but  gave  his  father  a  lot  valued  at 
$2000,  in  December,  1835,  for  the  remaining  seven 
months  of  his  minority.  This  was  afterward  returned 


13 

to  him  in  the  division  of  his  father's  estate.  He  pub- 
lished one  of  the  first  lithographic  maps  of  this  city 
early  in  1834.  It  comprised  Sections  9  and  16,  and 
the  fractional  10  and  15,  bounded  north  by  Chicago 
Avenue,  south  by  Twelfth  Street,  west  by  Halsted 
Street,  east  by  Lake  Michigan.  But  only  10;  the 
south  half  of  9,  east  of  Jefferson  Street;  and  the  two 
or  three  north  tiers  of  blocks  of  16  were  subdivided 
into  lots ;  all  the  rest  was  in  squares  and  40  x  80  acre 
lots.  In  1836,  the  property  he  had  acquired  was 
valued  at  $300,000,  and  this  he  had  accumulated  with- 
out pecuniary  assistance  from  his  father.  He  pur- 
chased at  one  time  over  7000  acres  of  canal  lands, 
and  probably  owned  a  greater  portion  of  Chicago  than 
any  other  person.  As  stated,  he  was  a  member  of 
the  first  Presbyterian  church.  He  also  assisted  in 
organizing  a  Sunday-school,  in  which  he  taught  a 
class,  and  was  likewise  secretary  and  librarian,  carry- 
ing this  the  first  Chicago  Sunday-school  library,  of  20 
volumes,  to  and  fro  in  his  pocket-handkerchief. 

In  1836,  in  accordance' with  his  father's  wishes,  he 
purchased  a  warehouse  and  dock  lots  for  $23,000,  to 
engage  in  the  shipping  business,  as  the  father  con- 
sidered it  very  desirable  for  the  son  of  twenty-one  to 
have  regular  occupation  to  promote  good  habits.  His 
entire  indebtedness  at  this  time  was  about  $25,000, 
and  there  was  due  him  nearly  $20,000,  chiefly  final 
payments  upon  real  estate  which  he  had  sold;  but  the 
panic  of  1837  brought  ruin  to  many;  his  debtors 
could  not  pay,  and  by  1840,  his  property  had  all  gone. 

In  1837,  he  erected  the  first  public-schoolhouse  of 


this  city  at  his  own  expense  ($507.93).  It  was  on  the 
church  lot  S.-W.  cor.  Clark  and  Washington  sts.  His 
mother  was  interested  in  an  infant-school,  and  desir- 
ing a  building,  this  dutiful  and  generous  son  erected 
it.  This  was  the  beginning  of  our  public-school  sys- 
tem, and  for  years  he  devoted  much  time  and  thought 
to  educational  matters.  In  1839,  he  was  manager  of 
the  Chicago  Colonization  Society,  as  well  as  trustee, 
secretary,  and  manager  of  the  Union  Agricultural 
Society.  The  farming  interests  engaged  much  of  his 
attention,  so  that,  in  the  fall  of  1840,  he  began  issuing 
The  Prairie  Farmer,  hoping  by  practical  agriculture 
to  reach  the  leading  farmers,  the  power  of  the  West, 
upon  the  fundamental  subject,  common-school  educa- 
tion! For  some  years  he  was  sole  editor,  and  retained 
an  interest  until  the  panic  of  1857.  Did  time  permit, 
I  would  fain  dwell  upon  the  value  of  this  paper  to  all 
the  Northwest. 

From  1840-5,  he  traveled  in  a  buggy  most  of  the 
time  in  all  parts  of  the  then  West — Indiana,  Illinois, 
Wisconsin,  and  Iowa — to  become  acquainted  with  in- 
fluential farmers,  and  to  make  them  write  for  their 
paper,  and  advocate  common  schools.  He  became 
well  informed  about  the  country,  and  witnessed  its 
rapid  settlement,  as  well  as  the  development  of  its 
unequalled,  inexhaustible  resources.  In  1842,  he  got 
up  the  first  State  convention  at  Peoria,  to  promote  an 
interest  in  common  schools.  It  was  a  grand  success, 
and  he  was  made  chairman  of  the  committee  to  memo- 
rialize the  legislature.  Traveling  then  constantly  to 
and  fro  about  The  Prairie  Farmer,  he  had  done  noth- 


15 

ing  toward  the  memorial  when  he  went  to  Springfield, 
but  it  was  done,  as  he  said,  "after  a  fashion,"  and  read 
by  him  in  the  senate-chamber  to  the  joint  committees 
of  the  senate  and  house  upon  common  schools.  Mon- 
day morning  the  memorial  was  offered  in  the  senate, 
and  Mr.  Constable,  from  a  Wabash  county,  and  an 
entire  stranger  to  him,  arose  upon  the  presentation, 
and  said  he  had  listened  to  its  reading  before  the  com- 
mittees, and  he  moved  to  print  10,000  copies  that  it 
was  the  best  thing  he  ever  saw  or  heard  upon  that 
subject.  Not  a  voice  did  he  hear  against  it,  but  so 
afraid  was  the  lieutenant-governor  (John  Moore)  of 
Yankee-school  innovations  that  he  pettishly  declared 
the  motion  lost.  Then  5000  was  moved,  and  it 
passed  unanimously.  That  started  the  efforts  in  the 
whole  West  for  that  great  work. 

In  1845-6,  he  was  in  the  East,  and  wrote  a  series 
of  most  valuable  papers,  appearing  in  The  Commercial 
Advertiser,  Evening  Post,  American  Railroad  Jour- 
nal, etc.,  etc.,  urging  the  capitalists  of  the  East  to 
engage  in  the  construction  of  railroads  ;  about  the 
various  agricultural  products  of  the  West,  their  profits, 
etc.  ;  the  minerals,  manufacturing  advantages,  the 
canal,  etc.,  etc.,  and  predicting  that  Illinois  bonds, 
then  worth  25  to  30  cents  on  the  dollar,  and  three 
years  of  accrued  interest  not  reckoned,  so  prevalent 
was  the  impression  that  the  State  debt  could  never  be 
paid;  that  by  1858-9,  Illinois  would  pay  her  full  in- 
terest without  any  increase  in  the  then  rate  of  taxa- 
tion. Writing  in  1860,  he  said:  "And  for  two  years 
we  have  done  this,  and  our  bonds  are  above  par!" 


i6 

Who  can  measure  the  value  of  these  writings  and  the 
good  they  accomplished,  not  only  for  Chicago,  but 
for  the  Northwest  ? 

On  Sept.  i,  1846,  he  married,  at  the  residence  of 
Mrs.  Jane  C.  Washington  of  Mt.  Vernon,  a  niece  of 
hers,  Miss  Catherine  B.  Turner,  the  youngest  child  of 
Henry  S.  Turner  of  Jefferson  County,  Virginia.  She 
was  handsome,  witty,  and  accomplished,  and  her  child- 
hood, passed  chiefly  at  Mt.  Vernon  after  her  mother's 
death,  had  been  such  as  comes  to  few  of  us.  Aban- 
doning all  the  delights  of  Washington  society,  leaving 
her  devoted  friends  and  kindred,  she  came  to  the  em- 
bryo city  with  her  husband,  as  his  mother  had  done 
before  her,  and  for  over  a  third  of  a  century  it  has 
been  her  home.  His  marriage  stirred  ambition  again 
to  make  money  on  Chicago  property,  and  he  bought 
most  judiciously.  In  fact,  in  1856,  the  ground -rent 
on  two  of  the  lots  purchased  for  $13,500  was  $7000 
per  annum,  and  his  real  estate  was  then  valued  at  over 
$600,000,  a  great  fortune  in  those  days. 

In  1847,  ne  wrote  a  series  of  most  valuable  letters 
to  the  Boston  Courier.  These  letters  were  com- 
menced to  urge  upon  the  Bostonians  the  importance 
and  advantage  to  themselves  of  subscribing  liberally 
to  the  stock  of  the  Galena-and-Chicago  Union  Rail- 
road. In  1848,  another  series  were  published  simul- 
taneously in  The  Boston  Mining  Journal  and  Rail- 
road Gazette,  advocating  the  construction  of  railroads 
and  presenting  the  advantages.  His  acquaintance 
was  very  large,  and  when  the  canal  convention  met 
in  Chicago  in  1847,  he  could  name  each  State's  repre- 


I? 

sentatives  in  the  procession  as  it  passed  by,  personal 
acquaintances.  Among  his  many  friends  were  the 
Kennicotts.  The  "Old  Doctor,"  as  he  was  familiarly 
known,  became  the  horticultural  editor  of  The  Prairie 
Farmer,  while  Hiram  wrote  frequently  also  for  the 
paper.  Few  among  my  older  hearers  have  not  en- 
joyed the  hospitality  of  their  delightful  homes,  and  the 
friendship  formed  early  in  the  forties,  has  now  ex- 
tended to  the  third  generation! 

In  1847,  he  proposed  an  extended  system  of  parks 
for  the  three  divisions  of  this  city  to  be  connected  by 
boulevards.  After  the  lapse  of  many  years,  this  has 
been  carried  out,  but  at  greatly-increased  cost.  Chi- 
cago owes  not  a  little  to  his  efforts  in  behalf  of  her 
park  system.  In  1848,  he  predicted  that  Chicago 
would  increase  in  population  twenty  per  cent  per 
annum  for  five  years,  eighteen  per  cent  per  annum  for 
the  next  five  years.  These  were  realized;  but  six- 
teen per  cent  for  the  next,  and  fourteen  per  cent  for 
the  succeeding  five  years,  were  not  realized,  and  he 
considered  the  war  an  abundant  reason.  He  calcu- 
lated twelve  per  cent  for  the  next' five  years,  and  then 
ten  per  cent  indefinitely.  His  prediction  in  1861,  that 
our  population  in  1886  would  be  one  million,  has  not 
been  realized.  The  United-States  census  shows  the 
rate  of  increase  for  the  entire  country  has  diminished, 
and  the  many  flourishing  suburban  towns,  Pullman, 
South -Chicago,  etc.,  etc.,  have  absorbed  what  would 
otherwise  have  been  an  addition  to  this  city's  popula- 
tion, and  were  it  not  for  them,  he  would  not  have 
been  far  wrong.  Many  of  you  will  remember  the 


i8 

ridicule  his  predictions  excited.  He  was  far  in 
advance  of  his  age! 

One  who  was  afterward  among  the  millionaires  of 
Chicago  objected  to  his  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  Galena- 
and- Chicago  Union  Railroad,  arguing  against  it  "be- 
cause railroads  would  stop  the  advent  of  the  'prairie 
schooners,'  500  to  1500  teams  then  daily  arriving;  and 
with  their  stoppage,  grass  would  grow  in  the  street," 
was  his  sagacious  declaration.  Another  objected  to 
his  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  Illinois-Central  Railroad. 
Said  he,  "Why,  don't  you  see  that  the  railroad  will 
enable  farmers  to  run  off  their  produce  to  Cairo  while 
the  canal  and  river  are  frozen,  which,  if  kept  till  spring, 
would  have  to  come  to  Chicago."  In  1847,  before 
Chicago  possessed  a  single  railroad,  he  predicted  a 
number  of  lines  that  would  be  built,  afterward  among 
our  chief  roads;  and  in  1858,  he  could  say  exultingly, 
"Wild  as  were  these  views  considered,  instead  of  the 
five  railroads  anticipated,  we  have  twelve  important 
trunk  lines";  and  surely  he  did  his  part  to  effect  this 
result. 

The  Hon.  William  B.  Ogden's  memory  needs  no 
word  of  mine.  Your  archives  contain  his  life.  Yet 
with  all  his  ability,  even  he  did  not  see  the  future  in 
store  for  this  city  as  did  John  S.  Wright.  Mr.  Ogden 
said  in  his  first  annual  report  as  president  of  the 
Galena-and- Chicago  Union  Railroad,  "  It  can  not 
have  escaped  the  observation  of  all  acquainted  with 
the  region  of  country  to  be  affected  by  the  construc- 
tion of  this  important  work,  that  if  constructed  now 
and  extended  east  from  Chicago,  around  the  head  of 


19 

Lake  Michigan,  till  it  meets  the  Michigan-Central,  as 
it  soon  will  be,  it  secures  to  the  country  through  which 
it  passes,  the  great  Northwestern  thoroughfare  for  all 
time  to  come.  No  other  continuous  route  of  railroad 
will  ever  be  made  to  that  great  and  rapidly-improving 
country  lying  west  and  northwest  of  Lake  Michigan 
to  the  north  of  the  southern  end  of  that  lake,  if  this 
road  is  established  there  first.  No  line  to  the  south 
of  it,  near  enough  to  compete  with  it,  will  be  at  all 
likely  to  be  built  while  the  business  of  the  country  can 
be  prosecuted  upon  the  road  on  which  we  are  now  en- 
gaged," etc.  In  after-years  he  admitted  to  Mr.  Wright 
his  better  insight  into  the  future;  and  in  1868,  the 
latter  said,  "Hon.  W.  B.  Ogden  is  now  the  acknowl- 
edged railway  king  of  the  West;  and  although  he  used 
to  consider  my  calculations  extravagant,  no  other  man 
living,  so  far  as  I  know,  has  so  anticipated  the  import- 
ance of  railways  to  this  city,  present  and  prospective." 
In  1848,  Mr.  Wright  worked  hard  for  a  land-grant 
to  secure  a  north -and -south  railroad  for  Illinois.  He 
wrote,  printed,  and  distributed  at  his  own  expense, 
6000  copies  of  petitions  to  congress  in  aid  of  a  rail- 
road from  the  upper  and  lower  Mississippi  to  Chicago. 
Three  different  ones  were  prepared  for  the  South,  Illi- 
nois, and  the  East.  His  friend  Stephen  A.  Douglas 
said  they  came  to  Washington  by  the  hundred,  numer- 
ously signed,  and  had  much  influence,  being  the  ear- 
liest movement  for  this  object  outside  of  congress, 
except  the  Cairo  Company.  He  went  personally  to 
Washington,  and  spent  weeks  in  laboring  for  the 
passage  of  this  bill.  Sept.  20,  1850,  it  became  a 


20 

law.  Congress  thereby  established  a  precedent  of 
granting  lands  in  aid  of  railroad  construction.  In 
the  4  ist  congress,  bills  were  pending  to  grant  189,- 
224,920  acres  of  the  public  land  to  railroads;  and 
The  New-York  Herald  estimated  that  previous  con- 
gresses had  granted  220,000,000  acres.  This  first 
land-grant  was  for  2,595,053  acres,  to  be  taken  by 
odd  numbers  in  alternate  sections  within  six  miles  of 
the  railroad.  Poor  estimated  the  cost  of  the  road  at 
$30,000,000,  and  the  value  of  the  land  at  an  equal 
amount. 

John  S.  Wright  published  a  pamphlet  in  which  he 
insisted  "that  the  State  would  be  everlastingly  dis- 
honored if  the  legislature  did  not  devise  laws  to  build 
the  road,  and  disenthrall  the  State  of  its  enormous 
debt  besides,  out  of  the  avails  of  this  land-grant."  I 
believe  he  was  in  favor  of  the  State's  constructing  the 
road.  Had  this  been  done  under  equally  honest  and 
able  management,  it  might  have  changed  our  entire 
railroad  system.  The  land-grant  would  have  paid  for 
the  road,  and  the  State  could  have  either  derived  the 
profit  that  has  gone  to  the  stockholders  in  dividends, 
and  the  stock  is  today  quoted  at  1.291/2,  or  have  given 
its  citizens  the  benefits  in  lower  rates  and  fares.  It 
could  have  regulated  the  profits  of  other  roads,  as  they 
are  now  regulated  by  water  transportation,  and  the 
granger  movement  and  outcry  against  railroad  mo- 
nopolies would  never  have  existed.  The  legislature 
decided  to  transfer  the  land-grant  to  a  corporation. 
Mr.  Wright  then  insisted  that  in  return  therefore  the 
said  corporation  should,  during  the  continuance  of  its 


21 

existence,  pay  ten  per  cent  of  its  gross  earnings  from 
operation  to  the  State  in  lieu  of  other  taxes.  The 
legislature  in  its  wisdom  reduced  this  payment  to 
seven  per  cent,  although  after  the  bill  had  passed,  the 
president  of  the  Illinois -Central  Railroad  told  him 
they  would  have  paid  the  ten  per  cent  rather  than 
relinquish  the  project.  These  payments  had  amounted 
to  $9,833,258.61,  Oct.  31,  1884,  and  paid  the  State 
debt.  So  far  as  I  know,  no  other  State  possesses  a 
like  revenue,  and  Illinois  owes  these  millions  chiefly 
to  the  efforts  of  John  S.  Wright. 

In  1851,  to  make  more  money  for  himself,  and  at 
the  same  time  benefit  the  farmers  who  suffered  from  a 
scarcity  of  hands,  he  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
the  Atkins  Self- Raking  Reaper.  Of  this  he  said: 

"Mr.  Atkins,  a  bedridden  mechanic,  invented  the  Automa- 
ton Self-Raking  Reaper,  and  gave  me  a  half-interest  to  patent 
and  introduce  it.  He  had  the  perfection  of  ingenuity  and 
mathematical  skill  to  calculate  the  dimensions  of  each  piece 
to  bring  about  the  required  motion  for  raking,  an  entirely 
new  automatic  movement  in  mechanics,  though  he  had  never 
seen  a  reaper  at  work;  and  from  his  drawings  made  a  model. 
The  first  reaper  was  made  from  that  model,  twelve  times  en- 
larged and  never  altered;  yet  its  first  trial  was  perfect  in  the 
harvest-field.  I  built  one  in  1852;  40  in  '53;  300  in  '54; 
1200  in  '55;  and  2800  in  '56,  and  never  enough  to  supply  the 
demand.  The  cost  of  the  machine  was  $90,  and  it  sold  for 
$180  cash,  credit,  $200.  Though  the  business  seemed  very 
promising,  a  providential  circumstance  caused  its  failure.  In 
the  winter  of  '54  and  '55,  I  contracted  for  ash  lumber  to  build 
3000  machines  for  1856.  It  was  stuck  up  to  season  on  the 
docks  at  several  lake  ports;  but  the  summer  of  1855,  there 
was  so  much  railroad  iron  coming  here,  and  so  little  grain  to 
2 


22 

go  down,  that  freight  prices  were  inverted.  I  waited  there- 
fore for  fall  freights  to  reduce  prices  up  the  lakes.  I  con- 
tracted for  four  cargoes  in  October;  but  the  vessels  took 
other  freight  at  higher  rates,  and  I  made  another  contract; 
but  winter  set  in  four  weeks  earlier  than  ever  before  known, 
and  two  cargoes  were  frozen  up  in  the  St.  Clair  River,  whence 
it  could  not  be  got.  It  was  the  thickest  lumber  for  the  frames 
and  the  most  essential  to  have  well  seasoned.  As  a  conse- 
quence, contracts  were  made  with  mills  all  about  here. 
Superheated  steam  kiln-dryers  were  erected,  and  a  contract 
let  to  parties  at  Dayton,  Ohio,  to  build  1000  machines,  each 
to  be  tested  in  the  shop,  and  then  delivered  in  Baltimore. 
Having  myself  to  choose  whether  to  supervise  here  or  at 
Baltimore,  I  left  for  Baltimore.  Two  thousand  machines 
were  built  here  of  green  lumber,  and  as  each  one  was  fully 
warranted,  and  they  went  to  pieces  under  the  burning  harvest 
sun,  an  outlay  of  about  $200,000  was  required  to  make  good 
this  loss.  The  Dayton  machines  were  not  tested,  and  proved 
to  be  defectively  constructed." 

The  crops  were  poor  in  '57.  A  panic  swept  over 
the  country.  His  debtors  could  not  pay,  and  with  the 
utter  prostration  of  real  estate,  his  property  was  swept 
entirely  away.  I  have  dwelt  at  length  upon  this 
matter  to  show  you  that  this  failure  was  caused  by  a 
combination  of  circumstances  that  no  human  eye  could 
have  forseen.  The  panic  of  1857  brought  ruin  to 
many  thousands  besides  himself! 

In  1859,  he  formed  a  project  for  a  land  company, 
which  in  its  magnitude  was  worthy  of  his  gigantic  in- 
tellect. His  excellent  legal  friend,  the  late  H.  M. 
Morfit  of  Baltimore,  was  his  counsel.  In  1860,  he 
published  a  pamphlet  in  aid  of  this  land-improvement 
company.  He  obtained  an  option  on  thousands  of 


23 

acres,  two  million  dollars  worth,  extending  in  a  belt 
entirely  around  this  city  in  1867,  at  from  $65  to  $450 
per  acre.  In  1871,  it  was  worth  in  some  instances 
$20,000  per  acre.  In  1861,  a  charter  was  obtained 
from  the  Illinois  legislature,  and  he  went  to  New  York 
to  arrange  with  a  good  friend,  Mr.  James  T.  Soutter, 
ex-president  of  the  Bank  of  the  Republic,  who  had 
unbounded  influence  upon  capitalists;  but  ill -health 
and  other  reasons  sent  him  to  Europe,  and  while 
awaiting  his  return,  Mr.  Wright  began  the  study  of 
international  law,  to  which  he  devoted  seven  years. 
Charles  O'Connor  examined  some  of  the  manuscript 
containing  articles  for  The  Journal  of  Commerce,  and, 
upon  finishing,  he  remarked:  "Mr.  Wright,  you  are 
surely  right  as  to  your  views  of  the  nature  of  our  in- 
stitutions." This  work  grew  day  by  day,  until  it 
resulted  in  a  volume,  entitled,  "State  Sovereignty- 
National  Union."  Mr.  O'Connor  was  seen  by  him 
repeatedly,  from  time  to  time,  as  the  work  progressed. 
By  the  spring  of  1863,  he  had  gone  carefully  through 
Barbyrae's  French  Pufendorf  and  Grotius,  annotat- 
ing on  loose  sheets.  Prof.  S.  B.  F.  Morse  had  been 
his  intimate  friend  for  years,  and  introduced  him  to 
his  brother,  Finley,  who  was  engaged  in  the  same  line 
of  study.  Finding  the  translations  of  classic  works 
worse  than  nothing,  and  himself  so  rusty  in  the  lan- 
guage so  well  known  in  childhood,  he  went  to  Prof. 
Morse  and  told  him  he  must  have  the  assistance  of  a 
thorough  Greek  and  Latin  scholar.  He  sent  him  to 
his  friend,  Prof.  J.  Holmes  Agnew,  who  at  once  en- 
gaged with  his  whole  heart  and  soul  in  helping.  This 


24 

volume  met  with  a  cool  reception  from  the  public ;  but 
President  Hopkins  wrote:  "It  is  the  most  wonderful 
gathering  of  the  great  ideas  of  the  world  upon  the 
depths  of  politics ;  but  my  chief  wonder  is  how  a  man 
always  so  devoted  to  business  could  possibly  have  got 
the  scarce  old  books  to  get  the  writings,  that  the  evi- 
dence of  our  errors  and  the  uniform  tracing  of  them 
to  their  sources  is  the  strangest  event  in  our  history." 
In  January,  1862,  he  wrote  to  the  Evening  Post  on 
the  federal  debt,  from  which  I  extract: 

"  We  must  pay  whatever  rate  is  necessary  to  get  the 
money — the  sinews  of  war.  But  with  the  reestablishment  of 
the  Union  will  return  a  new  and  firmer  confidence  in  the 
perpetuity  of  our  institutions,  and  a  still  stronger  and  more 
rapid  career  of  prosperity  than  we  have  ever  known,  and  the 
value  of  government  securities  will  have  a  corresponding 
advance  in  value.  There  is  no  propriety  or  necessity,  it 
appears  to  me,  in  allowing  the  bulk  of  this  advance  to  enure 
to  the  speculators,  either  home  or  foreign,  who  will  be  the 
owners  of  most  of  this  indebtedness,  and  who  will  in  the 
main  not  have  advanced  the  money  now  when  it  is  needed 
but  will  have  bought  it  up  just  as  soon  as  they  see  the  ordeal 
is  passed,  and  our  institutions  are  to  be  permanent.  Govern- 
anent  sixes  are  now  under  ninety.  They  have  heretofore 
sold  at  one  hundred  and  twenty-four,  or  higher,  and  with  a 
return  of  confidence  will  go  there  again,  and  even  beyond. 
We  wish  no  stain  of  repudiation  to  rest  upon  our  untarnished 
federal  credit,  such  as  rests  upon  the  British  government  for 
striking  down  its  rate  of  interest;  and  yet  there  is  no  pro- 
priety in  our  paying  more  than  other  nations  whose  securi- 
ties are'  not  half  what  are  ours.  I  would  therefore  propose 
that  a  stipulation  should  be  inserted  in  each  loan-bill,  and 
alluded  to  in  the  bonds;  that  as  the  stock  advances  above 


25 

par,  for  each  five  per  cent  of  increase  the  rate  of  interest 
shall  be  reduced,  say  a  half  of  one  per  cent;  perhaps  also 
giving  the  holder  the  option  of  demanding  payment  of  the 
principal,  though  this  option  appears  to  me  unnecessary  and 
inexpedient.  *  *  *  With  financial  skill,  the  government 
can  advance  its  credit  so  that  in  a  few  years,  if  this  proposi- 
tion be  practicable,  the  interest  will  be  reduced  one-third  or 
one-half." 

Has  not  the  result  demonstrated  the  wisdom  and 
value  of  these  ideas  ?  Government  bonds  bearing 
three  per  cent  interest  are  now  above  par! 

In  the  excitement  of  the  war  he  thought  his  land 
company  would  have  no  chance,  and  it  was  not  re- 
sumed until  after  the  fall  of  Richmond.  In  1867,  he 
began  to  prepare  a  pamphlet  urging  upon  capitalists 
the  many  advantages  of  investing  in  Chicago  prop- 
erty; but  the  work  grew  until  it  resulted  in  a  volume 
entitled,  "Chicago — Past,  Present,  and  Future."  His 
mind  was  now  so  disordered  that  the  book  contained 
much  irrelevant  to  the  subject,  but  eschewing  that  it 
was  a  work  of  incalculable  value  to  this  city,  and  the 
labor  he  gave  to  it  was  very  great.  The  press  spoke 
of  it  in  the  most  flattering  words,  but  it  had  a  very 
limited  sale.  He  was  in  Chicago  at  the  time  of  the 
great  fire,  and  his  vivid  description  was  as  follows: 

"I  was  sleeping  in  a  room  adjoining  my  office  on  East- 
Washington  Street  that  memorable  Sunday  night.  About 
two  o'clock  a.m.,  a  man  came  thumping  at  my  door,  and  sup- 
posing it  a  drunken  loafer  who  was  trying  to  find  his  room,  I 
made  no  reply.  After  three  or  four  tremendous  thumpings, 
he  cried  out,  very  loud,  '  Mr.  Wright,  are  you  in  here  ? '  and 
I  asked  crossly,  'What  do  you  want  ?'  Said  he,  'Mr.  Wright, 
the  whole  city  is  on  fire,  and  this  building  will  be  burnt  in  a 


26 

few  minutes.'  I  turned  over  to  the  window,  and  sure  enough, 
the  large  and  blazing  coals  made  me  close  it;  and  I  put  on 
my  clothes  quicker  than  ever  before,  by  the  light  of  the  fire, 
and  went  on  the  first  floor.  Dr.  Heydock  was  there,  things 
all  moving.  'Why,  Doctor,'  said  I,  'have  we  got  to  move?' 
He  replied,  'This  building  will  be  burnt  in  a  very  few  minutes.' 
I  returned  to  my  room  and  did  up,  in  some  large  paper,  a 
Geneva  Bible  and  a  lot  of  business  papers,  including  deeds, 
which  I  had  put  together  most  providentially.  With  these 
and  a  satchel,  all  I  could  carry,  I  went  out  to  see  the  extent 
of  the  fire,  with  gratitude  unspeakable  to  my  God  and  the 
kind  janitor,  for  my  wonderful  escape.  I  started  to  join  my 
daughter,  who  was  ill  at  my  old  friend,  Dr.  George  E.  Ship- 
man's,  on  North-Peoria  Street.  I  tried  to  cross  the  South 
Branch  at  VanBuren  Street,  but  at  Adams  Street,  on  State, 
I  saw  it  was  impossible,  and  went  north  to  cross  the  river  at 
State  Street;  but,  in  this  short  space  of  time,  the  flames  had 
reached  the  stable  on  the  river.  The  large  coals  were  falling 
so  thickly  over  the  North  Division,  as  well  as  the  South,  that 
I  could  not  save  my  papers  going  through  the  terrible  rain 
of  fire.  At  Lake  Street,  I  turned  again  for  Twelfth  Street, 
and  oh!  the  grandeur  of  that  immense  sheet  of  flame  as  it 
rose  about  three  o'clock  from  the  very  centre  of  our  city! 
Thence  crossing  the  river  at  Twelfth  Street,  I  soon  came  to 
the  buildings  where  the  fire  started,  and  left  my  papers  with 
a  housekeeper  on  the  edge.  I  then  had  a  walk  of  a  mile  and 
a-third  in  the  rear  and  beside  the  flame;  so  that  no  one  could 
•  have  more  realized  the  unexampled  conflagration.  About 
four  o'clock,  my  daughter's  intense  anxiety  was  relieved ! 
With  what  power  and  gratitude  my  head  and  heart  then 
worked  upon  the  future  of  our  city!  I  saw  in  this  calamity 
sure  benefits! 

"The  next  morning,  upon  getting  my  things  to  go  to  the 
Adams  House,  never  dreaming  that  the  fire  had  crossed 
State  Street,  I  was  hailed  by  D.  H.  Horton,  one  of  the  pub- 


27 

lishers  of  my  Chicago  book,  who  was  sitting  upon  a  dray  at 
the  corner  of  Wabash  Avenue  and  Congress  Street.  He  in- 
formed me  of  the  destruction  of  the  North  as  of  the  South 
Side,  and  his  salutation  was,  'Well,  Wright,  what  do  you  think 
now  of  the  future  of  Chicago  ? '  I  thought  an  instant  and 
replied,  'I  will  tell  you  what  it  is,  Horton.  Chicago  will  have 
more  men,  more  money,  more  business,  within  five  years  than 
she  would  have  had  without  this  fire.'  Though  the  remark 
was  well  spread  at  once,  few  realized  the  truth." 

Not  long  after  this  that  noble  mind  gave,  way  so 
completely  that  Mr.  Wright  had  to  be  placed  in  an 
insane  asylum.  He  died  in  the  Pennsylvania  Hos- 
pital for  the  Insane,  Sept.  26,  1874,  and  was  interred 
at  Rose  Hill,  Sept.  29.  The  friends  of  many  years 
who  acted  as  pall-bearers  were:  Philo  Carpenter, 
Gurdon  S.  Hubbard,  E.  S.  Wadsworth,  B.  W.  Ray- 
mond, Hiram  Kennicott,  S.  Lind,  W.  Osborn,  William 
Bross,  T.  B.  Carter,  and  George  R.  Clarke.  His  life's 
work  was  done,  and  his  great  spirit  returned  to  God, 
who  gave  it! 

"Like  shadows  gliding  o'er  the  plains, 
Or  clouds  that  roll  successive  on, 
Man's  busy  generations  pass; 
And  while  we  gaze,  their  forms  are  gone. 

"He  lived,  he  died — behold  the  sum, 
The  abstract  of  the  historian's  page- 
Alike  in  God's  all-seeing  eye, 
The  infant's  day,  the  patriarch's  age. 

"To  crowd  the  narrow  space  of  life 
With  wise  designs  and  virtue's  deeds, 
So  shall  we  wake  from  death's  dread  night 
To  share  the  glory  that  succeeds." 

As  stated  by  Crocker: 


28 

"Dryden's  aphorism,  that  great  wit,  meaning  mental  powers 
generally,  is  nearly  allied  to  insanity,  is  so  true  as  to  have 
become  a  proverb;  but  it  stands  on  older  and  graver  au- 
thority, that  of  Seneca." 

I  trust  enough  has  been  said  to  convince  you  of  his 
wonderful  mental  powers,  which  for  so  many  years  he 
used  for  the  good  of  this  city,  that  he  loved  so  well. 
Judge  Jameson  wrrote: 

"As  the  magnetic  currents  are  said  to  play  about  the  earth, 
enveloping  it  in  a  net-work  of  living  forces,  so  thought  plays 
about  every  subject  of  human  interest.  Thinking  minds  try 
to  trace  out  causes  and  to  forecast  results." 

This  John  S.  Wright  did!     Speaking  of  life,  he  said: 

"Laboring  as  we  do  almost  exclusively  for  self  and  for  this 
life,  as  practical  and  wise  men,  we  should  ever  remember  that 
as  to  time  the  individual  is  of  no  account,  a  miserable,  despic- 
able creature,  except,  precisely,  as  he  fulfills  his  obligations 
to  his  city,  to  his  State,  to  the  nation,  to  his  fellow-men,  to 
his  God!  Man  has  not  wisdom  to  do  himself  any  good  what- 
ever, except  as  he  seeks  to  promote  the  good  of  his  own 
family,  of  his  own  church,  of  his  own  State,  of  his  own  na- 
tion. He  may  live  and  consume  for  his  own  good  his  quan- 
tum of  food,  drink,  and  clothing;  but  cui  bono  ?  " 

I  believe  that  the  time  will  come  when  Chicago 
must  appreciate  the  magnitude  and  benefit  of  his  life's 
work.  Few  of  her  citizens  today  realize  all  that  he 
did  in  the  past.  Andreas'  "History  of  Chicago"  con- 
tains the  following: 

"The  extracts  here  given  might,  in  the  absence  of  other 
information,  lead  to  a  misconception  concering  the  character 
of  John  S.  Wright.  Although  a  born  trader  and  a  bold 


29 

speculator,  he  was  a  man  of  rare  virtues,  and  during  his  long- 
residence  in  Chicago,  was  identified  with  nearly  every  enter- 
prise and  measure  calculated  to  promote  its  prosperity  or 
elevate  the  educational,  mental,  moral,  or  religious  standards 
of  the  city.  The  benefactions  of  this  wonderfully  energetic 
citizen  permeated  nearly  every  channel  of  the  life  and  shewed 
in  every  phase  of  her  early  growth.  The  building  of  the 
early  railroads,  the  development  of  manufactures,  the  first 
Presbyterian  church,  Sabbath-schools,  and  the  common-school 
system  of  the  State,  the  Press;  to  all  these  he  devoted  his 
energies  and  gave  in  no  stinted  measure.  Frequent  mention 
of  him  appears  elsewhere  in  this  volume." 

Upon  hearing  of  his  death,  Gen.  John  A.  Clarke 
wrote  to  me: 

"Your  father  was  one  of  my  earliest  Illinois  friends.  About 
the  same  age,  we  spent  the  winter  of  1833-4  m  Chicago  to- 
gether; boarded  at  the  same  log-cabin  (Rufus  Brown's),  slept 
in  the  same  bunk  under  the  counter  in  your  grandfather's 
store,  on  the  corner  of  Water  and  State  Streets,  and  during 
all  the  years  that  followed,  until  your  father  was  stricken  with 
the  disease  that  terminated  his  life  here,  our  friendship  was 
unbroken.  This  friendship  and  the  incidents  of  our  early 
association  are  remembered  with  a  lively  interest.  I  shall 
always  think  of  him  as  he  was  in  his  days  of  usefulness,  when 
all  things  were  possible  to  him ;  when  to  suggest  the  failure 
of  his  great  plans  was  to  almost  excite  him  to  anger,  so  cer- 
tain was  he  of  the  future." 

J.  Wingate  Thornton  of  Boston  wrote  to  me: 

"I  am  glad  to  hear  from  you,  and  the  account  of  your 
father's  last  days  are  painfully  interesting.  He  was  a  far- 
sighted,  sagacious  man,  much  above  the  average,  and  had  he 
found  fellows  of  equal  intelligence  and  rectitude,  the  story 
had  been  far  happier!  I  envy  not  the  callous  indifference 


30 

and  stupidity  which  failed  to  sustain  the  plans  which  capital 
in  intelligent  hands  would  have  carried  to  public  and  private 
good.  *  In  the  future  it  will  be  found  that  Chicago 

will  hold  in  honorable  remembrance  the  name  of  John  S. 
Wright  as  one  of  the  best  men;  a  pioneer  in  the  cause  of 
common  schools,  popular  education,  and  as  one  who  distinctly 
pointed  out  the  elements  which  would  make  her  the  great 
central  mart  of  the  United  States.  Time  will  vindicate  his 
name  and  fame." 

The  Rev.  J.  Ambrose  Wight  wrote  to  me  when  I 
informed  him  of  this  my  proposed  paper: 

"I  am  glad  to  recall  to  the  public  mind  the  service  your 
father  did,  not  for  Chicago  alone,  but  for  Illinois,  and  in  fact 
for  the  then  Northwest.  I  came  to  Chicago  to  live  and  to 
be  in  his  employ  in  May,  1843,  and  was  with  him  on  salary 
or  as  partner  till  the  close  of  1855,  with  a  short  exception. 
He  had  a  clearer  insight  of  what  Chicago  was  to  be  than  any 
other  man  I  knew  in  that  time.  His  mind,  like  that  of  his 
mother,  ran  upon  public  interests;  not  those  specially  of  the 
nation,  but  of  his  own  city,  State,  and  neighborhood.  He 
was  constantly  planning  in  the  earlier  part  of  this  time  for 
these  interests.  He  saw  clearly  that  Illinois  was  to  be  a 
great  State,  and  Chicago  a  great  city.  His  habit  of  forecast 
in  these  matters  often  brought  upon  him  ridicule  from  those 
who  were  content  with  things,  as  they  were,  and  resisted  im- 
provements. As  his  modes  of  expressing  his  convictions  and 
impulses,  I  recall  his  establishment  of  The  Prairie  Farmer. 
There  was  not  another  man  in  the  State  at  that  time  who 
would  have  done  it.  And  few  had,  at  first,  faith  in  his  suc- 
cess with  it.  And  though  he  had  no  special  training  for  such 
an  undertaking,  not  being  bred  a  farmer,  he  carried  it  on  suc- 
cessfully for  two  years,  and  established  it.  The  event  shewed 
his  prescience.  There  was  need  of  just  such  a  paper  at  that 
time.  The  settlers  upon  prairie  lands  had  no  guide  in  regard 


to  a  great  number  of  questions  which  it  was  necessary  to 
.settle,  and  only  experience  and  intercommunication  could 
settle  them:  'Will  the  cultivated  grasses  grow  on  these  prairie 
lands  ? '  '  Can  sheep  be  successfully  kept  here  ? '  Will  our 
•accustomed  fruits  succeed  ?  and  what  kind  shall  we  cultivate, 
•and  how  treat  them  ? '  '  How  shall  we  fence  these  open 
lands  ? '  These  and  the  like  questions,  now  of  far  less  diffi- 
•culty,  if  any,  were  then  matters  of  great  moment;  for  the 
settlers  were  poor  and  could  not  afford  experiments.  The 
matter  of  harvesting  crops,  too,  was  one  in  which  the  paper 
was  an  active  and  influential  instrument. 

"There  was  another  great  interest  which  nobody  attended 
to  till  Mr.  Wright  led  off  in  it.  I  mean  that  of  public-school 
education.  Illinois  had  no  system  of  schools.  Such  as  were 
•in  existence  were  private  or  local  affairs.  He  worked  up  a 
system  of  public  schools,  and,  I  think,  drafted  a  law,  which 
Ihe  talked  and  wrote  into  favor,  and  got  it  through  the  legis- 
lature, which  was  then  no  easy  matter,  for  the  south  part  of 
the  State  was  reluctant ;  but  he  had  made  the  acquaintance  of 
leading  men  all  through  the  State,  in  all  its  neighborhoods; 
and  that  law  is  the  basis  of  the  school  system  of  Illinois  to 
this  day.  It  has,  of  course,  undergone  many  alterations.  The 
school  system  of  Chicago  owes  more  to  him  for  its  inception 
than  to  any  one  man.  It  started  by  his  efforts.  There  ral- 
lied to  it,  early,  a  body  of  men,  whose  names  are  attached  to 
the  several  schools  of  the  city  today,  while  none  that  I  am 
-aware  of  bears  his  name.  And  very  possibly  those  men  have, 
if  alive,  forgotten  that  he  was  the  man  whose  enthusiasm  ex- 
cited first  their  own.  The  reason  for  this  is  patent  to  those 
Avho  knew  him  well.  His  perceptive  faculties  were  not  always 
supported  by  reflective  ones.  He  saw  and  devised  and  grew 
•enthusiastic  till  he  had  got  others  to  take  hold,  when  his  in- 
terest in  a  matter  often  declined,  and  he  did  not  carry  out 
his  schemes.  This  peculiarity  attached  to  his  management 
of  his  private  affairs.  He  ought  to  have  been  immensely 


32 

wealthy.  He  bought  with  great  sagacity,  but  his  after-man- 
agement was  not  successful.  He  did  not  adhere  to  and  make 
a  success  of  his  own  good  planning.  As  a  sample:  After  he 
had  installed  me  in  The  Prairie  Farmer,  he  left  for  New  York 
and  Washington  to  be  absent  three  weeks;  but  I  neither  saw 
or  heard  from  him  in  eleven  months;  yet  when  he  returned 
he  had  purchased  a  property  which  in  a  very  few  years  was 
valued  at  two  millions  of  dollars.  This  peculiarity  made  him 
seem  visionary  to  many,  and  has  caused  his  real  shrewdness 
and  benevolent  forecast  to  be  forgotten. 

"Another  of  his  public  acts  I  well  remember.  The  State, 
by  the  influence  of  the  southern  part  of  it,  had  passed  a  law 
restricting  interest  to  six  or  seven  per  cent.  The  merchants 
of  that  section  suffered  farmers'  accounts  to  run  for  a  long 
time,  charging  interest  at  high  rates,  which  gave  rise  to  the 
law.  It  worked  very  badly  for  the  north  of  the  State,  and 
especially  for  Chicago;  for  money  could  not  be  loaned  at  six 
per  cent,  and  money  was  greatly  wanted.  Mr.  Wright  drew 
up  a  brief  law  allowing  ten  per  cent  on  money  loaned.  He 
printed  the  law,  with  a  brief  argument  for  it,  on  slips,  which 
he  sent  by  thousands  through  the  State,  and  the  law  was  car- 
ried, to  the  immense  relief  of  Chicago,  and,  in  fact,  of  the 
whole  State. 

"Previous  to  this  he  had  advocated  with  all  his  might  and 
assisted  to  secure  the  '  two-mill  tax,'  which  relieved  the  State 
of  an  incubus  of  debt  of  sixteen  millions,  and  which  operated 
for  some  years  to  hold  it  back  from  prosperity.  The  law  was 
stoutly  opposed,  by  its  immigrant  population  especially,  who 
had  brought  with  them  from  Europe  a  hatred  of  taxation, 
though  many  of  them  had  very  little  property  to  be  taxed. 

"I  remember  these  things  very  well,  for  I  not  only  heard 
him  talk  enthusiastically  of  them,  but  in  my  way  assisted  him 
in  getting  them  before  the  public.  I  have  always  believed 
that  Chicago  and  the  State  owed  him  more  than  they  knew 
or  at  least  recognized.  He  was  a  perfectly  self-reliant  manr 


33 

and  the  independence  of  his  opinions  often  avoked  for  the 
time  a  distrust  of  them,  or  even  an  opposition  to  them;  and 
his  later  misfortunes  served  perhaps  to  cause  forgetfulness  of 
the  real  services  he  had  rendered  to  the  public." 

And  now,  in  conclusion,  to  those  among  you  who 
extended  to  him  your  friendship  to  the  end,  unalienated 
by  the  infirmities  of  disease,  or  the  pecuniary  misfort- 
unes that  came  to  him,  I  would  tender  my  most  sin- 
cere and  heartful  thanks ! 

Mr.  Chairman,  permit  me  to  present  to  the  Chicago 
Historical  Society  his  portrait,  in  behalf  of  my  brother, 
Chester  Dewey,  and  myself.  It  was  painted  by  his 
friend,  Mrs.  St.  John,  formerly  of  Chicago,  now  of 
New  York,  and  represents  him  as  he  appeared  at  the 
age  of  fifty-five. 


TRIBUTE  OF  HON.  WILLIAM   BROSS. 


AT  the  close  of  the  address,  Ex- Lieut.  Gov.  Wm. 
Bross  moved  that  a  vote  of  thanks  be  tendered  to  Mr. 
Wright  for  his  discriminating  and  very  excellent  ad- 
dress. It  was  seconded  and  unanimously  adopted. 

On  offering  the  resolution,  Gov.  Bross  said  that  he 
was  very  glad  that  his  son,  waiving  all  delicacy,  had 
spoken  so  freely  and  so  fairly  of  the  character  and  the 
life-work  of  his  eminent  father,  John  S.  Wright.  It 
was  his  good  fortune  to  have  known  him  long  and  well. 
Indeed,  he  was  the  first  citizen  of  Chicago  with  whom 
he  became  acquainted,  and  it  were  well  if  each  one's 
recollection  could  dwell  on  incidents  equally  pleasant. 
On  his  way  to  this  city,  in  the  early  morning  of  May 
1 2th,  1848,  between  Kalamazoo  and  St.  Joseph,  there 
to  take  the  steamer  Sam  Ward — that  was  four  years 
before  the  railways  from  the  East  reached  Chicago — he, 
with  other  passengers,  became  very  tired  of  being 
tumbled  about  in  the  stage  coach.  At  the  change  of 
horses,  about  daylight,  Mr.  B.,  with  several  others, 
started  ahead  on  foot,  and  the  result  was  a  very  refresh- 
ing walk  of  two  or  three  miles.  Here  the  speaker  fell 
in  company  with  a  slim,  wiry  man,  whom  he  at  once 
found  to  be  a  most  intelligent  and  courteous  companion. 


36 

Chicago's  position  with  reference  to  the  system  of  lake 
navigation,  and  also  with  reference  to  the  vast  and 
fertile  prairies  between  the  lakes  and  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, and  the  certainty  that  it  would  become  the  com- 
mercial capital  of  the  upper  Mississippi  valley,  were  all 
detailed  in  graphic  and  enthusiastic  language  by  Mr. 
Wright  to  the  willing  ears  of  his  listener,  eager  to  gain 
all  the  information  he  could  get  in  regard  to  the  posi- 
tion and  the  prospects  of  his  new  home  in  the  West. 
More  than  thirty-five  years  study  and  travel  by  stage- 
coach and  steamer,  and  by  all  the  main  railway  lines 
between  the  lakes  and  the  Rocky  Mountains,  the  build- 
ing and  commercial  statistics  of  the  city,  now  rounding 
up  into  the  enormous  amount  of  more  than  a  thousand 
millions  of  dollars  annually,  have  simply  filled  out  the 
outlines  of  the  picture  given  him  that  May  morning 
in  the  wild  woods  of  Michigan  by  John  S.  Wright. 
Is  it  any  wonder  that  he  should  cherish  the  memory  of 
Mr.  Wright  as  one  of  the  best  informed  and  most  in- 
teresting men  he  ever  met. 

This  was  not  all.  With  his  usual  courtesy  to 
strangers,  he  called  at  the  hotel  on  the  Sabbath,  and 
took  Mr.  B.  to  his  own  seat  in  the  Second  Presby- 
terian church,  and  in  the  course  of  a  week  or  two 
introduced  him  to  Mayor  Woodworth  and  most  of  the 
leading  business  men  of  the  city. 

In  1849  Mr.  B.  said  he  was  the  partner  of  the  Rev. 
Dr.  J.  A.  Wight  in  the  publication  of  the  Prairie 
Herald,  and  Mr.  Wight  was  also  the  editor  of  the 
Prairie  Farmer.  As  the  office  of  the  two  papers  was 
in  the  same  room,  he  then  saw  much  of  Mr.  Wright. 


37 

He  often  spent  hours  talking  of  the  interests  of  the 
farmers,  in  all  their  varied  relations,  showing  an  inti- 
mate and  accurate  acquaintance  with  whatever  could 
promote  their  prosperity  and  welfare.  Agricultural 
implements,  the  most  profitable  crops  and  how  they 
could  be  best  and  most  economically  produced,  har- 
vested and  brought  to  market ;  our  lake  marine  and  its 
relations  to  the  prosperity  of  the  city  and  the  vast  farm- 
ing districts  west  of  it ;  Chicago  as  a  successful  manu- 
facturing centre,  because  food  for  operatives  must 
always  be  cheaper  here  than  anywhere  else  upon  the 
continent ;  railway  prospects ;  in  fact,  everything  that 
related  to  the  political  and  commercial  interests  of  the 
city  and  the  Northwest,  were  discussed  with  a  breadth 
of  comprehension  and  accuracy  of  detail  that  seemed 
almost  an  inspiration  from  some  source  far  above  the 
grasp  of  human  intelligence. 

The  memorial  has  given  many  of  the  leading  facts 
and  enterprises  in  the  life-work  of  Mr.  Wright,  and 
were  it  proper  and  did  time  permit,  he  would,  if  possi- 
ble, add  intensity  and  more  extended  illustration  to  the 
biographical  sketch.  Take  only  a  single  example. 
Mr.  W right  was  one  of  the  first  to  see  the  importance 
and  grasp  the  possibility  of  a  railway  from  the  lakes  to 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  land-grant  which  had  suc- 
cessfully completed  the  Illinois-and-Michigan  Canal, 
furnished  the  text  for  a  similar  grant  for  this  great 
national  railway  project,  Mr.  Wright's  pen  did  much 
to  make  it  familiar  to  the  people,  and  in  the  winter  of 
1 849-50  a  bill  was  introduced  into  Congress  making  a 
grant  of  lands  to  the  states  through  which  it  would  run 
3 


449056 


38 

for  the  construction  of  the  road.  There  it  lay  for 
weeks  and  months,  attracting  very  little  attention. 
Mr.  Wright  saw  what  action  was  needed,  and  that  he 
was  the  man  that  must  take  it.  At  his  own  expense 
he  printed  thousands  of  circulars,  stating  briefly  the 
necessity  of  the  road  to  the  welfare,  of  the  nation,  with 
a  petition  to  Congress  to  pass  the  bill.  At  that  time 
such  documents  went  by  mail  free  to  postmasters,  and 
to  his  personal  knowledge  he  kept  his  clerk  busy  for 
weeks  sending  these  to  every  postmaster  between  the 
lakes  and  the  Gulf.  The  requests  to  the  postmasters 
to  get  signers  and  forward  the  petitions  to  their  con- 
gressmen were  promptly  attended  to,  and  in  the  early 
summer  sessions  of  Congress  the  petitions  came  in  by 
thousands,  and  members  were  astonished  at  the  unani- 
mous demand  of  their  constituents  for  the  railway. 
Thus  our  Senators  Douglas  and  Shields  and  Repre- 
sentatives Wentworth  and  others  saw  their  opportunity, 
and  the  bill  was  passed  Sept.  20,  1850.  Now  look  at 
our  thousands  of  miles  of  railway,  and  grasp,  if  you 
can,  the  influence  they  have  upon  the  growth,  the  hap- 
piness and  the  prosperity  of  this  city  and  the  great 
Northwest.  The  money  and  the  moving  spirit  that 
started  effectively  this  wonderful  progress  were  fur- 
nished by  John  S.  Wright. 

In  according  the  leading  position  thus  given  to  Mr. 
Wright  in  this  and  other  improvements,  it  may  be 
asked  what  was  left  for  the  founders  of  the  city — great 
men  they  certainly  were — to  do  ?  He  was  the  leading 
spirit  mainly  in  the  intuitive  perceptions  he  had  of  the 
forces  on  which  his  predictions  of  the  future  greatness 


39 

of  the  city  and  of  the  country  tributary  to  it  were 
founded.  Like  many  others,  his  mind  ran  too  far 
ahead  of  his  cotemporaries  to  be  appreciated.  He 
lived  a  generation  before  his  time.  Hence  he  was 
considered  by  many  a  dreamer — a  man  whose  conclu- 
sions could  not  be  trusted.  While  he  was  great  and 
grasping  as  to  the  events  of  the  future,  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  others,  by  their  substantial  character  and 
steady  purposes,  wrought  directly  to  the  fulfilment  of 
Mr.  Wright's  conclusions.  They  had  and  held  the 
position  among  the  capitalists  and  leading  business 
men  of  the  country  that  gave  them  the  command  of  the 
means  to  build  warehouses,  move  our  crops,  transport 
them  over  the  great  lakes ;  establish  banks,  build  and 
run  our  railways,  and  generally  to  secure  the  prosperity 
and  the  progress  of  the  Northwest.  Such  men  were 
Wm.  B.  Ogden,  John  B.  Turner,  B.  W.  Raymond, 
Gurdon  S.  Hubbard,  Thomas  Richmond,  Charles 
Walker,  William  H.  Brown,  Geo.  Smith,  Daniel  Brain- 
ard,  F.  C.  Sherman,  J.  Y.  Scammon,  and  I  might  men- 
tion scores  of  others,  most  of  whom  are  passed  away- 
all  great  men,  whose  substantial  business  character  en- 
abled them  to  accomplish  results,  from  the  very  enthu- 
siasm of  his  character  impossible  to  Mr.  Wright.  It 
would  be  absurd  to  attribute  to  any  one  man  more  than 
a  moiety  of  the  grand  results — more  wonderful  than 
any  achievements  of  the  past — which  the  Queen  City 
of  the  lakes  and  the  country,  whose  commercial  centre 
she  is,  have  made  a  simple  but  substantial  reality.  Mr. 
Wright  could  see  in  prophetic  vision,  and  his  sterling 
common  sense  grasped  the  means  and  the  character  of 


40 

the  great  men  around  him,  by  whose  efforts  his  splen- 
did conceptions  would  be  realized.  Great  and  impos- 
sible as  they  then  appeared,  all  men  now  will  concede 
that  our  thousands  of  miles  of  railway,  making  Chicago 
the  central  station  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
oceans;  our  vast  commerce,  derived  from  millions  of 
intelligent,  prosperous  freemen,  who  are  subduing  the 
fertile  regions  west  of  us;  our  lake  marine,  carrying 
more  than  twice  the  values  of  the  entire  foreign  traffic 
of  the  nation ;  our  city,  with  its  great  stores  and  busy 
mannfactures,  its  tremendous  live-stock  interests,  and 
its  immense  grain  shipments,  and  its  ceaseless  growth, 
sure  to  round  up  to  a  million  people  before  the  century 
closes;  these  facts  and  such  as  these,  patent  to  the  com- 
prehension of  all  mankind,  have  more  than  fulfiled  all 
Mr.  Wright's  brightest  anticipations.  Let  Chicago 
always  hold  his  name  in  vivid  and  honored  remem- 
braance. 


UNIVERSITY  ol  CALIFORNIA 

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